Westminster and sexual harassment

Tory whips have decided to tackle the problem of drunken MPs and have given them minders to keep them on the straight and narrow. Apparently the scheme was set up to ensure they didn’t miss voting on Brexit and have expanded it to look out for sexual harassment too.
This is in the Times this morning!
Wonder if the cost of this will come off the money earmarked for child care. What are we paying these idiots for?

I do believe all the bars in H o P should be closed down forthwith. I can't think of any other public institutions where alcohol is available for staff during work hours. (Law Courts, Hospitals, Schools, Railways, Council offices, Bank HQ.?)

And the drinks are subsidised

I know, the issue of working late into the evening, in such an unreal environment combined with cheap alcohol and a drinking culture feels like a recipe for disaster to me.

Close the bars, have a code of conduct like other places of work do and expect those we vote in to represent us to behave professionally at work. If the work includes evening dinners and alcohol, it's still work and who these days thinks drinking at work is the right thing to do?

Maryeliza54 I am not convinced that Theresa May cares about the issue, other than that she could really do without this when her government is so shaky. She was Minister for Women and Equalities (along with being Home Secretary) for a few years, not so long ago, but I don't recall her tackling this issue then.
In normal work places confidentiality for the accused is the rule. People will inevitably really want to know why the head teacher has been suspended but they will have to put up with not knowing the details before, during or after the disciplinary hearing. Unless it becomes a matter for the courts. Westminster is not a normal workplace and MPs are not "employees". (Their staff are employed by their MPs so they should in theory be covered by good employment practices...) the PM does not employ the MPs and neither does their political party. They can be sacked from their party (and or have the Whip suspended) but the only way they can be got rid of as MPs is by a process called "Recall" , which triggers a by-election. I seem to remember that previously this could be done if enough constituents signed a special petition. A new act was brought in just a few years ago which lays out specific conditions in which the Speaker can trigger a "Recall". www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/25
It could also be argued, very convincingly, that if an MP is accused of poor behaviour we all have a right to know.

I see they are wheeling out Edwina Curry to stand up for these poor downtrodden male MPs.

www.5050parliament.co.uk/

Do we need more women in parliament?

No

We need the right person for the right job.

And the drinks are subsidised

The drinks should cost more than elsewhere. The HoP needs funds for refurbishment.

I enjoyed Hadley Freeman's column in the Guardian yesterday:

So it is clearly time to ban men from the workplace. They obviously cannot handle working with women and we’ve been through sagas like this too many times now to expect them to change, really. So stay at home, men: take some time to think about your collective behaviour, have cold baths, grill some meat. Leave the grown-up work to women now.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/nov/04/evidence-mounting-mans-place-in-home

It's not serious, of course but it does reverse a discourse which women have been subjected to for a long, long time.

With a teacher or doctor for example, you can protect the public s/ he would normally come into contact with at work by suspending them ie they can’t carry on doing their job until the disciplinary/ court case is finished. With MPs simply taking away the whip still leaves the public at work at risk. It’s really difficult isn’t it to work out how to protect other workers from an MP facing serious allegations? He can still get into a lift in Parliament and have a grope or make a lewd remark. So as the system can’t protect us maybe we all just have to know what he’s accused of so we
can choose for an example to give him a wide berth.

As for having more women MPs,it’s rather naive to think that the present system automatically results in the best candidates being appointed or even being prepared to put themselves forward for selection.

Why should women not be the right people for the job?

There has been a lot of research that demonstrates the benefits of having much greater representation of women at senior levels, including politics and business.

An article by Gwen Young of CNN on this subject contained this extract:

"............... It's not just developing countries that can benefit from increasing female participation in the workforce, including in leadership positions. A 2014 a Goldman Sachs report argued that Japan could boost its absolute GDP by 12.5% if female workforce participation rose to match that of men.

"And in Canada, one study on the impact of women in public service showed that women have had a clear impact on "policy, programs and operations such as in fisheries, the automotive industry, national security, natural resources, the environment, science, human resources and international relations." This impact arises not only from the inclusion of women's perspectives, but also from leadership styles that are open, collaborative and less hierarchical............."

I would add, however, that I would not vote for or support the advancement of a woman merely because she was a woman.

I absolutely agree Eloethan. The real issues is the barriers that exist to prevent women coming forward - if women had equal opportunities with men, then it could be argued that the best person was selected.

That depends, also, on an unbiased selection process.

I hope that what comes out of all this is a set of rules and regulations that protects anyone from any person in power. We know from some of the physiological experiments that have been done that all it takes is telling someone that they are in a position of power and telling another person they are not for the boundaries, such as they are, in society to break down very quickly.

The neoliberals ideas, which have been turning our previously accepted ideas of 'right' on there head with their no rules, no regulation society, are being found out fast and furiously in all aspects of life at the moment. Of course, the wealthy and the powerful wanted to have these ideas accepted generally - it is what they have always lived by and enabled their sense of entitlement to be seen as accepted (while not acceptable) by society.

What it all boils down to, in my opinion, is that for hundreds of years women have been regarded by men as sexual objects who exist to service their needs; either to have their children or to indulge their preferences. Especially men in positions of power. Although the advent of the Pill in the 1960s offered women sexual liberation in many ways and helped to drive the feminist movement I don't think it helped to alter the views of men who saw women in that way. I think it gave them the impression that all women wanted sex and, because of the removal of the fear of pregnancy, would be more than willing to comply whenever they, the men, wanted them. Women who didn't submit could be castigated as being frigid or unnatural.

So, while it gave women freedom over their own sexual activity it didn't do anything to alter the power relationship.

Well, that's what I think. Others can disagree, but I think some men have a long way to go yet in recognising women as equal and autonomous beings who don't exist for their pleasure.

And so do some women judging by some of the comments on GN

Wonder if Damian Green can cling on? If not Maybot will be totally isolated -then I wonder if she’ll carry in.

Well it will be interesting to see what evidence if any the former police officer produces.

Forceful piece from the Independent on the Tories record on gender equality. www.independent.co.uk/voices/sexual-harassment-westminster-jacob-rees-mogg-tories-womens-rights-a8033331.html

MaizieD Sun 05-Nov-17 14:27:54

IMO You have hit the nail well and truly on the head there.

MaizieD Sun 05-Nov-17 14:27:54

IMO You have hit the nail well and truly on the head there.

Don't know how that happened!

Nellimoser

Nice to be doubly complimented Thanks.

Very good post, MaizieD - it reflects my experiences pre and post "the pill".